Potential sale of historic plane faces stiff opposition

Hanging in the balance of a yet-to-be-made-public city council decision is the future of a wooden 1945 De Havilland Mosquito donated to Calgary decades ago by Spartan Air Services.

It has been put up on the block for $1-million to a buyer in the United Kingdom, according to reports.

Richard De Boer, the spearhead of a media campaign to keep Calgary’s Mosquito, said its historical significance to the city should not have a price tag attached to it.

“The museum, through the city, has done this same thing on four different occasions and we have to say ‘not this time, no, not with this airplane.’”

Calgary’s Mosquito, originally named F for Freddy, flew 213 missions over occupied Europe, De Boer said.

Its British pilot, Maurice Briggs, earned his pilot wings on the same spot that Calgary’s Aerospace Museum now sits and he came back to Calgary the day after VE Day.

Just before heading to Red Deer and surrounding communities to show off the plane, on May 10, 1945, Briggs hit the control tower at Calgary Airport, tearing off a wing of the plane and resulting in the loss of the pilot’s life.

“You can’t sell that piece of history,” said De Boer.

Michelle Bauer, the fund development and communications manager of the museum, said she had received several calls about the potential sale yesterday, but could not comment on the matter.

Gerry Lang of Calgary’s Civic Partnerships knows about the potential sale and how it all arose, but could not comment as official discussions surrounding the plane’s future were made in-camera.

neil mackinnon for Metro Calgary

Report in works

A report on the plane is being compiled by city administration and will come to committee level before any details are made public.